THUNDER BAY - Though some members of the public have resigned themselves to the idea the closure of a south side high school is inevitable, they’re looking for the school board to provide more information about how affected students will be transitioned.
The Lakehead Public School Board held their second student accommodation review committee on Monday night at Sir Winston Churchill Collegiate and Vocational Institute, the high school the board is proposing to shutter in June 2017.
The proposed closure is part of the board’s school renewal plan, a strategy unveiled earlier this year as a response to declining enrollment and the elimination of a provincial government grant to help fund under capacity schools.
It would see Churchill closed with Westgate and Collegiate and Vocational Institute being the lone south side public high school. Two elementary schools, Agnew H. Johnston and Edgewater Park public schools, would be on the chopping block in June 2018 with a new elementary school to be constructed on the former Churchill site.
The plan, which also includes north side proposals, is scheduled to be voted on by board trustees with a final decision to be made on Oct. 4.
Marc Lemelin, the father of three Churchill students, said it seems like the closure plan is a “done deal” and wants to know how those relocated students will be accommodated.
While his eldest son will graduate next year, he has a son currently in Grade 9 and a daughter currently in Grade 7.
“If you’ve already had your business plan financially for how you’re going to do this, I think you need to look at the social aspect and have your plans in place,” Lemelin said.
“I believe the true stakeholders in this are actually the kids who go to Churchill because this is the school that’s closing…I think how you’re going to make this smooth for them should be laid out on the forefront.”
As well, Lemelin is concerned about the impact on morale as students and staff know Churchill will no longer operate at the end of the school year.
He said his son won an award earlier Monday but commented having his name on the trophy would likely be meaningless in the future with the school closed.
“It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. I think Churchill’s numbers next year are going to drop tremendously next year. I mean, if I’m a parent and my child is about to start in Grade 9, why on earth would I ever send them to Churchill if I know it’s about to close,” Lemelin said.
A number of questions from members of the audience, whether it be students, staff or parents, focused on how the two school communities would be brought together.
Sherri-Lynne Pharand, board superintendent of education and south side accommodation review committee chair, said the transition has many elements.
“Although certainly there are templates available of all the things we have to consider in a transition, everything from operational details to moving resources and all of those types of things, the biggest thing that’s important in a transition is the culture of a school,” she said.
“It’s about identifying those things that are important to each of the schools and then deciding moving forward how we’re going to make that happen. There has to be give and take on each side.”
A strong desire was expressed by some to have the amalgamated school rebranded so it wouldn’t simply be Churchill students being moved to Westgate.
It’s an idea Lemelin supports.
“If nothing else, it helps equalize the playing field. You might not have so much of a feeling of the kids from Churchill being in somebody else’s backyard if all of the sudden you’re changing the name of the street,” Lemelin said.
“Now everybody is starting that year fresh in a new name, a new everything. It’s just somebody else’s building but now everybody is under the same umbrella.”
Other concerns from the audience circled around why enrollment has dropped so significantly, prompting this renewal plan.
Parent Karl Skogstad said the past closure of high schools, coming a decade after the end of Hillcrest High School as well as Fort William and Port Arthur collegiate institutes, may have spurred students to the Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board with this plan potentially further eroding enrollment.
He said the board needs to evaluate how to appeal to parents to boost student numbers.
“I certainly see ourselves five, 10 years down the road having the merging of the north and south side schools to just one simple high school and maybe at that point three Catholic high schools,” Skogstad said.
The second north side accommodation review committee will be held on Wednesday at Hammarskjold High School starting at 6:30 p.m.
The reports from the accommodation review committees will be presented to trustees on June 23.
